Plugin Hit while parked on a local street

welcome to priuschat! great first post! sorry to hear about your misfortune. i would not trust a local repair shoppe with a hybrid. from the time it's taking, it sounds like they are learning as they go. you should request two things from the ins. co., a guarantee against future failure, and diminished value when you go to sell/trade. all the best!

 

What a nightmare. Maybe having the Dealer BS may have better sources on parts. My guess is they are stuck with Third Party parts and perhaps that is a sourcing issue. When a car sits for 4 months Batteries can completely deplete which may require a new 12V battery etc and other issues. I'm not a mechanic maybe one can chime in.

 

We've had both our Prius, and a previous Civic Hybrid, in a nearby body repair place. While it would be nice to have a body shop that knew hybrids in-and-out, I don't think that's going to happen, and really shouldn't be a deal breaker.

Our previous Civic Hybrid was in a nasty T-bone accident, resulting in over a month of the road. One consequence, I suspect, is the main battery's condition was deteriorated by this idle time.

 

See an attorney - you were screwed.

 

Andrew, probably too late now, but this should have been handled for you by your own insurance company, who then would collect from the driver of the truck and his insurer. I had an accident recently and my car was in the shop for a month, with repairs costing about $11700.00, and the car's value (2012 base PiP) set at around $27-28K. The time included about a week at the dealer to remove, examine, store and reinstall the battery pack. It looks as though your car would require the same to make structural repairs. The shop I used was at the top of the list of both my local Toyota dealer and my insurance company, and repairs are guaranteed as long as I own the car. Parts were at the body shop in less than a week after the accident. My insurer is now going after the other driver and his insurance company, but whether they collect or not, my car is back on the road with no out-of-pocket costs or long delays on my part.
If you haven't spoken to your insurance company, it might be worth a call to bring them in on it. Otherwise, I agree with the suggestion to get an attorney involved to see if you ought to sue, even if they are providing a rental at no cost to you.

 

i dropped off at Toyota dealer, who arranged body work with their local approved body shop. still took a month, but at least the dealer was in the loop and could involve the master techs for hybrid system if needed.

 

As to what insurance company handles the liability , depends on if your state is a
Fault or no fault state
My concern would be the battery , before I signed off , how is the alignment , frame bent
, which would take your dealer check it out , would be worth to me , even if I had
To pay for an independent inspection , after you sign off .. You are not a number any more

 

I haven't read all the responses carefully, but I'm amazed too that it wasn't totaled. To me, the large HV pack was likely damaged and needs replacement, esp. since it extends almost all the way to the back in the PiP.

This is really bad news and it sucks that the car's been out of commission for so long. I'd be really mad.

 

Sorry to hear about your car. I personally would not feel comfortable with this car after the repair. I would have to replace it. I know you might not be able to do this. Hope everything works out for you.

 

The OP mentioned that the insurance adjuster for the pick up's owner was the one who estimated the cost of repairs. I took that to mean that he doesn't live in a "no fault" state.

 

I always get 3 estimates from the top 3 most expensive shops in town, then submit that to the insurance company to pay out the average price. I then repair any mechanical damage myself, forgo cosmetic repairs, and invest the remaining funds.

Since you have the right to have a car repaired anywhere you want, if you are unsatisfied with the service so far, take it somewhere else.

 

99%

 

Makes one wonder who is "road testing" your vehicle. The shop is either extremely thorough (not likely given the time they have had your car) or someone is enjoying driving your car- perhaps charging it and saving on gas for their own vehicle. A competent automotive tech can check out a car in a few miles driving at various speeds, making sure all systems work.

 

Prius does not have a frame, it is unibody. All structural damage will be fixed and will be as new. They simply cut out the bad parts and replace them.

I would be worried about the traction battery. My gut tells me the car is not holding a charge and they can't figure out why the 12v battery keeps going dead every night. That is what happened with my PiPA when it was rear ended. They estimated $14k in damages, which they would have fixed, but they also needed to ensure the traction battery wasn't damaged and only Toyota can do that. So they would have had to remove the traction battery and ship that to Toyota for certification. That would have cost at least $3,000 which they didn't want to spend. Then if the battery needed to be replaced, that would have been $8k.

They totaled out my PiPa.

 

I would have been content to have mine totaled, but the repairs needed to get into the 75%+ (roughly $20K) for that to be even under consideration. Toyota charged $1303.06 to remove, store and reinstall the traction battery- no price breakdown for testing. Maybe since mine didn't take a direct hit to the rear they didn't need to do much. The body shop guy said they would make sure it was OK and would power the car before it was returned to the shop. I wonder what $3ooo.oo would buy in the way of certification? Or do you think that meant shipping to the factory?

 

If it takes a charge and the car will run on battery only and regen works, I think those are clues that it is operating normally. But sure something to ask one of the Prius techs about.

 

After my Pip was hit, it would take a charge, and work fine, but then the battery would die overnight.

Dealer cannot certify the battery, I think at a minimum it would need to go up to El Segundo to check it out. So yea, I bet that did include transport. Or maybe the guy was making up numbers to total the vehicle.